Who Needs a Trojan Horse When We Have Leadership Like This?

?Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance? is a military adage used in the American Marine Corps and British Army. It is never heard in Croatian politics but is seen in its results.

My position in support of TTIP is well established – not only within the pages of Ve?ernji List but also on Banka.hr, Otvoreno, N1’s Pressing and others. Unequivocally, TTIP allows Croatian companies and workers the chance to compete for business in the richest, most open and sophisticated market in the world. I can also say that most of the arguments against TTIP are groundless and more a product of hysteria than reasoned objection.

However, one argument against TTIP makes sense in the Croatian context. To summarize: if former Prime Minister Sanader sold out our interests for 10 million Euros, and the current government rams through more than 80% of its laws by way of emergency procedure, how can we trust these same leaders to protect our interests during these negotiations?

This objection is rational but shows that Croatia has a crisis of leadership more than a crisis of faith in free trade.

Our leaders are intent on perpetuating this crisis. Did they or did they not analyze the impact of TTIP? The government can’t seem to make up its mind as to how to answer this simple question.   

Analysis is impossible - For months our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which oversees these negotiations, stated that it was irresponsible, even impossible, to do an analysis of the impact of TTIP prior to the finalization of the agreement. Deputy Minister Jo?ko Klisovi? echoed this sentiment on TV - ?We currently have only 10 European countries who have done such an analysis and it is very difficult to do a credible and reliable analysis when you don't know the agreed terms …? (Otvoreno 01.06.2015, 9:44 – 9:54).

We are working on it - The Deputy Minister changed his mind 35 minutes later after being criticized by me for not doing an analysis when 10 other EU nations had one. He ended the show with this  - ?We will do such an analysis I've already said we are in discussions with certain institutions in Croatia who could do that so we are going in that direction …? (Otvoreno 01.06.2015, 44:05 – 44:12).

No one has a precise analysis, but we have a framework – In Brussels eight days later, Prime Minister Milanovi? said, ?We don't have a precise analysis, like no one has one.  But we do have a framework one,? (Ve?ernji List 10.06.2015).

Analysis is being done and will be ready in September – Three days after that First Deputy Prime Minister Vesna Pusi? on Javna Stvar stated, “[The government] is right now doing an analysis of the impact of such an agreement” and when asked who is doing the analysis, the government or an outside institution, she answered, “… an institution outside of the government.”  She wouldn’t identify the institution doing the analysis and didn’t know when it would be completed. When pressed, she conjectured that it would be done by the end of September (Javna stvar 12.06.2015, 8:26-12:27).

Which of them is lying?

By the way, it’s worthwhile  to watch the interview with Vesna Pusi?, who is a candidate to become the next Secretary General of the United Nations - and decide for yourself what her body language is telling you. I know what it’s telling me…The government doesn’t have an impact analysis nor does it know who will do one. Meaning, no forethought was put into a once-in-a-generation opportunity. With that said, 18 other EU countries didn’t prepare an analysis either. Instead of telling us honestly that they didn’t do an analysis but will OR telling us why it’s more prudent not to (if that’s even possible to defend), we’ve had two weeks of verbal diarrhea. Who needs a Trojan horse when we have leadership like this representing us.      

We still believe that deals are done man to man – your dictator makes a deal with my dictator, like Tito did with Saddam Hussein and countless others. However, the new political landscape, much like the business landscape, demands more. You do your homework, thoroughly, or you look like a hayseed.  The problem is that we prefer ”quick-and-simple” over ”systematic, long and difficult.” 

The fact is that the embarrassing ”Pipl mast trast as” style perpetuated by the government's Ingrid Anti?evi? Marinovi?, which is shared by far too many in this government, isn’t getting us very far in the world – and the world won’t wait for us to figure it out. But our governments (plural) repeatedly choose a well-worn path to the detriment of our country, our economy, but most importantly - to the detriment of our faith in our political leadership.  It’s time for a change.

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This is a translation. The original article was published in Croatia's leading newspaper Ve?ernji List and can be read here.